Carnivore Ecologist for National Geographic

Field: carnivore ecology

“I never had a person of color to guide me, and I’m trying to make sure that other students will.”

As a kid I loved nature shows more than anything. I watched the hosts of nature shows walk through the jungles or savannahs and they knew all about animals. I really wanted to do that as a kid, and my STEM career in school and beyond was always in search of that. When I figured out that there is not just a career that is studying wildlife, but is also very mission-based to save them from extinction, I knew I had found the exact right thing for me.

Now I have the coolest job on the planet. I’m a large carnivore ecologist working for National Geographic, researching how endangered species are impacted by human interaction. I frequently travel to northeastern Montana to study grizzly bear movement, behavior, and predation. My work has taken me around the planet – studying black bears in the West, African lions in rural Kenya and Tanzania, gorillas and chimpanzees in the Congo Basin, and grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

If you support a woman in STEM, then she can change the world!

Where the Bears Were: Read more about Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant's research with the American Prairie Reserve near Montana's Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge.

Download a printable PDF of Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant's biography.

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Rae Wynn-Grant is an Ambassador with IF/THEN, which empowers current STEM innovators and inspires the next generation of pioneers. Learn more about IF/THEN.